This invention relates generally to coupling attachments for securing shims to backing plates, and in particular, to an improved coupling method for ensuring improved coupling of the shim to the backing plate, and an improved assembly formed thereby.
Attachment arrangements for securing a shim to a backing plate are known, examples of which include the use of pins (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,803), staples (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,680) and integrally formed posts formed from the backing plate itself. Tabs that engage the edge of the backing plate are also known (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,370).
However, in certain subassembly configurations, the present inventors have discovered that still further developments in the art are desirable. For example, the present inventors have discovered that it would be quite advantageous to utilize the material that makes up the friction pad to assist in securing the shim to the backing plate.
The idea of using the material that comprises the friction pad to aid in securing a shim to the backing plate is believed to one such idea that will improve the state of the art and is believed to be patentable over the known methodologies. For example, although U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,312 describes a flange of the shim and the material of the friction pad extending to the holes of the backing plate from the opposite side, the '312 patent stops short of describing or suggesting the idea of submersing the flange into the material itself. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,104 merely describes, as best understood by the present inventors, the formation of recesses in the friction pad material to receive the projections of the shim. As described in the '104 patent, the edges of the projections are merely proximate to the material of the friction pad. In a similarly distinct way, U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0082124 merely describes and illustrates a one unitary molded friction pad and shim structure formed of the friction pad material.
It can thus be seen that the prior art lacks any description or suggestion of encasing the projections of the shim in the friction pad material to aid in securing the shim to the backing plate. In particular, the prior art of which the inventors are aware is completely devoid of any such description or suggestion of such a construction whereby the shim and the friction pad are separately formed prior to molding and made of different materials and coupled together in the manner to be disclosed below.
The present inventors have discovered that improved shim attachments are therefore achievable and provided by the present invention and believe that the present invention overcomes the perceived deficiencies in the prior art as well as provides the objectives and advantages set forth above and below.